SEATTLE — In their 49-year history, the Seahawks have been held to seven points or fewer 75 times, according to Pro Football Reference.

Only once have they won — Thursday night in Chicago against the Bears, 6-3. One other time they tied, the infamous 6-6 overtime game at Arizona in 2016, which is the only tie in Seahawks history.

Only 54 times has Seattle been held without a touchdown in 775 games.

Only three times have they won — Thursday night, and 9-6 victories at Cleveland in 2001 and at Detroit in 2006.

Had the Seahawks lost in Chicago, it would have been one of the uglier defeats in recent team history, given that the Bears had lost nine in a row coming in and had lost their previous three games by a combined 60 points to the Lions, 49ers and Vikings.

That it took all the Seahawks had to hold off the Bears, not securing the victory until there were 11 seconds left, had many tabbing it as the proverbial ugly win.

But to coach Mike Macdonald, what the effort said about his team was a sight to behold.

The Seahawks faced the challenge of traveling on a short week, coming off two devastating defeats that dropped them from first place in the NFC West and controlling their destiny to second place and needing a lot of help, and with the result of the Bears game itself having somewhat negligible meaning to Seattle's postseason hopes, which rest largely on the Rams losing to Arizona and then beating Los Angeles next week and/or hoping for the strength-of-victory tiebreaker to break right.

The Seahawks survived all that to get what was their sixth victory in seven road games this season.

"Well, the guys are put in a tough spot," Macdonald said Friday. "You're not guaranteed, you're not holding your own destiny, so what are you going to go play for? How are you going to go on a short week, go across the country, go play the right way, battle adversity throughout the game, stick together, and fight through it? How are you going to do all of that when playoff implications aren't necessarily on the line?

"That tells me our guys are connected, they're tough, and they're playing for one another. I think that's pretty awesome."

They did it behind what was statistically one of the better defensive performances in team history.

The three points allowed tied for the 20th fewest in team history; Seattle has had 19 shutouts and have now allowed just three points 21 times. Seattle has won all 40 of those games.

And the 179 yards Seattle allowed were the 23rd fewest in team history.

The Seahawks have lost only twice when allowing fewer — a 16-3 defeat to Tampa Bay in 1998 when the Bucs got 156 and a 28-7 defeat to Kansas City in 1985 when the Chiefs gained 165.

It also was the fewest yards allowed by Seattle since 2017, when the Giants gained just 177 in a 24-7 Seahawks victory.

Seattle needed every bit of that defense, though, with the offense managing just two field goals, gaining just 265 yards and garnering a season-low 11 first downs.

It was the sixth time in the past nine games Seattle has been held to 289 yards or fewer, all far off what is still the season average of 331.9 per game, built on some explosive early-season performances.

That led to Macdonald being asked Friday if the offensive performance was "alarming."

Macdonald said, "I wouldn't call it alarming," noting the circumstances of the game played a role in the offense growing conservative as the game wore on.

"It wasn't up to our standard on our production and how we want to operate," he said. "But we did do the things we needed to do to win the game. We played a little bit of the field-position game in the second half. We finally flipped field position ... the game kind of declared (itself) there in the second half on how we had to play.

"So, we slowed it down a little bit and it became a field-position game, which it'd been in our territory in most of the games. I would have liked for us to be able to get it out in some of those situations. But when we did, in the latter part of the game going into the last drive, that was big for us to make Chicago have to go 30 or 40 yards instead of just 10 or 15."

The victory improved Seattle's record to 9-7 and also assured that Macdonald will finish with a winning record in his first year as an NFL head coach.

But as Macdonald noted, the goals were higher, and it's whether those can be reached that will determine how successful this year turns out to be.

"We wish we would have won more," he said. "We want to win every time we step on the field. But, to be sitting here with a week left and still have life, we've done some things. I felt like we've grown. Fallen short several times, but we've gotten up and dusted ourselves off and kept moving forward."

Walker could be back if Seahawks make long postseason run

The Seahawks on Thursday placed running back Kenneth Walker III on injured reserve with a high ankle sprain.

Players on IR have to sit out four games, which means Walker could return if the Seahawks advanced to the NFC championship game.

Macdonald said he thinks that could be realistic.

"I would love to see him come back ready to roll," he said. "Let's go have that problem come NFC championship time. We've got to get there first, but I know I'm sure holding out hope to see him again."

Seahawks preparing to play next Saturday

Macdonald said the Seahawks should find out Sunday if their game against the Rams will be Saturday or Sunday of next weekend.

None of the games for next weekend have yet been assigned dates with the league waiting to try to highlight games that have playoff implications.

There are two time slots for Saturday and there has been some assumption that if the Rams-Seahawks game is winner-take-all it could be handed one of those, which are at 1:30 p.m. or 5 p.m. Pacific Time.

The rest of the games will be Sunday at the usual 10 a.m. and 1:25 p.m. slots, with one game at night (there is no Monday night game).

Macdonald said the Seahawks are planning as if the game will be Saturday and ready to adjust if needed.

"Right now, we're operating under the assumption that we're going to be playing on Saturday because that's the earliest we can play," he said. "We have a secondary plan if we play Sunday. Right now, we're operating as if we're going to play on Saturday."

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